Baker, honorary chair of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, headed the U.S. Department of State during the administration of George H.W. Bush. Previously he served as chief of staff in Ronald Reagan’s first administration and as Secretary of the Treasury in the second Reagan administration. Zakaria is editor-at-large of TIME magazine and host of CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.” The two will participate in a discussion moderated by news analyst, former White House adviser and longtime Tate Series favorite David Gergen.

SMU’s 30th season of the Tate Distinguished Lecture Series has been posted online and features prominent names such as Fareed Zakaria, Meg Whitman, Bill Moyers and (in something of an unofficial school tradition) a return appearance by moderator David Gergen.

One Fall 2010 speaker is yet to be announced. All lectures take place at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium.

The upcoming season features these speakers:

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 – Senior statesman and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Newsweek International editor and CNN analyst Fareed Zakaria(pictured) will be joined by returning moderator David Gergen, former presidential advisor and CNN senior political commentator.

Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011 – Meg Whitman(pictured), former president and CEO of eBay and recent runner-up for the Governorship of California.

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 – Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and host of PBS’ popular program NOVA Science Now, a program dedicated to examining our current role and position in active scientific frontiers and pursuits.

Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 – Dambisa Moyo, international economist and best-selling author of How the West Was Lost and Dead Aid, named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine in 2009.

Three leading journalists discussed the environment, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other global challenges during SMU’s Tate Distinguished Lecture Series Turner Construction Student Forum Sept. 8.

“I find that when people ask what team they’re going to support, they end up with: ‘That answer has to be right because my team is always right,'” he said. “I think that’s fundamentally intellectually dishonest. What you should be asking is: ‘What is the right answer?’ The one thing I’ve learned through a not-so-long career is that you’re always better off saying what you believe and standing exactly where you think you should be.”

Zakaria participated in the discussion with Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times and author of books including Hot, Flat, and Crowded; and David Gergen, senior political analyst for CNN, editor-at-large of U.S. News & World Report and former White House adviser.

Under the link below are highlights of their question-and-answer session with SMU and area high school students at Hughes-Trigg Student Center.

The three also gave the Linda and Mitch Hart Lecture at McFarlin Auditorium as part of the Tate Lecture Series. In addition, Zakaria presented the Hart Global Leaders Forum on Sept. 9.

The next Tate Distinguished Lecture features U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and will take place Sept. 30.

Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria will speak to about 200 Dallas-area students in the 2009 Hart Global Leaders Forum Sept. 9.

Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International since 2000, is responsible for the magazine’s overseas editions. He also writes a Newsweek column that appears in The Washington Post. In 2008 he began hosting a foreign affairs program, “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” for CNN Worldwide. He is the author of The Post American World, The Future of Freedom and From Wealth to Power and co-editor of The American Encounter.

On Sept. 8, Zakaria will help kick off the 28th season of SMU’s Tate Distinguished Lecture Series with Thomas Friedman and David Gergen. The three will answer questions from the audience at The Turner Construction Student Forum at 4:30 p.m. in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom. They also will give The Linda and Mitch Hart Lecture at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium, with Gergen serving as moderator.

Faculty-Staff Campaign Kickoff: Join your colleagues in campuswide events to mark the launch of the faculty and staff component of The Second Century Campaign on Sept. 3. School and area events will take place throughout the day (find yours here) and will culminate in an all-University celebration hosted by SMU President R. Gerald Turner at 4 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom, Umphrey Lee Center. For more information and to make a gift, visit smu.edu/fs.

Jewish life, past and present: Photographer Loli Kantor has documented the disappearing population of Holocaust survivors and their lives within the vanishing shtetls of Poland and Ukraine. In the process, she found glimpses into a re-emergence of Jewish life and culture in Central and Eastern Europe that is beginning to transform larger communities. Her work is collected in There Was a Forest – Jews in Eastern Europe Today, on display through Nov. 15 in the Hawn Gallery, Hamon Arts Library. Kantor will lecture on campus at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 in the Taubman Atrium, Owen Arts Center, followed by a reception at 7 p.m. Both events are part of “Holocaust Legacies: Shoah as Turning Point,” a semester-long series presented by SMU’s Human Rights Education Program.

Game time: The Mustang football team hosts its season opener against Stephen F. Austin at 7 p.m. in Ford Stadium. Traditional tailgating parties and other festivities will take place on The Boulevard for most of the day. Find a complete season schedule, ticket information and more at 2009 Gameday Central, and learn more about Sellout 2009. (Right, wide receiver and senior co-captain Emmanuel Sanders, SMU’s career leader in touchdown catches and the first player in University history to record three 600-yard receiving seasons.)

Tate Lecture Series opens:New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria, moderated by former White House adviser David Gergen, will offer their insights on current events and international politics in the first event of the 2009-10 Willis M. Tate Distinguished Lecture Series season. The event begins at 8 p.m. Sept. 8 in McFarlin Auditorium.